How the bureaucrats seek to criminalize a paperwork mistake

How the bureaucrats seek to criminalize a paperwork mistake

Politicians scared of legal guns lost their attempt to disembowel the Second Amendment, but they’re not giving up. President Obama and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City are in the gun-control game for the long haul, advocating reforms that sound like common sense until they become law.

A “straw purchase” case that goes before the Supreme Court in October will be an important test. When someone who is ineligible to own a gun, such as a onetime felon, pays someone to buy a gun for him, this is called a “straw purchase.” In one notorious example, the U.S. Justice Department authorized straw purchases on behalf of Mexican drug kingpins, a scheme to track the final buyer in Operation Fast and Furious. Instead, it lost track of hundreds of guns.

None of this interesting legal history applies to Bruce Abramski, a Virginia resident who helped his elderly uncle get a handgun. Both men were legally entitled to own a gun. Both passed the required background checks. As an ex-cop, Mr. Abramski bought a Glock 19 and obtained a law-enforcement discount. He consulted three federally licensed dealers to make sure he did everything by the book when he transferred the gun to his uncle in Pennsylvania.